Department of Mathematics and Statistics

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in Student-Related Matters?

[Student talks, awards, publications, gatherings, surveys,
visits, mathematics competitions, other successes,
MAA Student Chapter news, SEARCH news, and so on]

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2009

  • 27 & 29 July 2009: Over these days, we participated in the second IUE (Institute for Urban Education) Summer College Immersion held on campus for 19 upcoming IUE students starting as Freshmen this Fall. Faculty member Richard Delaware presented a mathematics lecture on July 27, and then spoke again to the students on July 29 about the importance of Elementary and Middle School teachers learning mathematics well, and discussed our department Rough Guide to Surviving Mathematics Classes.


  • 20 July 2009: We hear the good news that Mathematics Education major Bradley Fulk has won the Advanced Level Essay prize in the UMKC Ilus W. Davis Writing Competition, and his expository paper
    "Adolphe Quetelet: An Analysis of His Research on the Propensity for Crime at Different Ages"
    will be published in the UMKC Fall 2009 Sosland Journal. The paper was written during Spring 2009 for Math 464 WI (History of Mathematics, Writing Intensive) taught by Richard Delaware.



  • 28 June - 1 July 2009: Over these days the second UMKC Southwest ECC (Southwest Early College Campus) Summer Scholars Academy was held on campus for approximately 80 upcoming 9th graders starting at Southwest ECC this Fall. On Tuesday June 30, the students each visited one Summer mathematics class and took notes. On Wednesday, Adjunct Lecturer Carol Hanson, and faculty members Becky Roberts and Richard Delaware met them in 3 groups to discuss those notes and our department Rough Guide to Surviving Mathematics Classes. Southwest ECC is an open enrollment, mathematics and science focused school for students in grades 6-12 in the Kansas City Missouri School District (KCMSD) which began in Fall 2008, formed as a partnership between the District, UMKC, Kansas City's Partnership for Regional Educational Preparation (PREP-KC), the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute (KCALSI), the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (WWF), and Donnelly College (Donnelly). Also see our department Southwest ECC Mathematics page.



  • 12 June 2009: We hear the good news that the Honors Undergraduate Journal Lucerna has accepted for publication in the Fall 2009 Volume 4, an expository mathematics paper written by Mathematics major Cam Buie titled
    "The Bernoulli Brothers and the Brachistochrone".
    Congratulations Cam! The paper was written during Spring 2009 for Math 464 WI (History of Mathematics, Writing Intensive) taught by Richard Delaware.


  • Cam Buie 8 May 2009: Undergraduate mathematics major Cam Buie graduates with the distinction of Departmental Honors. Congratulations, Cam! He will be returning in the Fall as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in our department.




  • May 2009: The College Algebra and Calculus I videos of Richard Delaware are now available at UMKC's YouTube EDU channel.


  • 17 April 2009: In the Expository Talks Series,
    undergraduate mathematics student Richard Harris gives a first 25 minute talk,
    Richard Harris talk "Cayley's 1889 Formula Counting Trees:
    "There are nn - 2 different labeled trees on n vertices",
    [See picture at left.]

    and undergraduate mathematics student Cam Buie gives a second 30 minute talk,

    Cam Buie talk "The 1906 Erdos-Renyi-Sos Proof of the Friendship Theorem:
    "Suppose in group of people we have the situation that any pair of persons has precisely one common friend. Then there is always a person (the 'politician') who is everybody's friend."
    [See picture at right.]
    For Richard the talk was during the course Math 464 WI (History of Mathematics - Writing Intensive), and for Cam the talk was during Math 412 (Advanced Analysis II), both taught by Richard Delaware. [For more pictures see All Pictures.]


  • 9 April 2009: Statistics graduate student Danna Zhang presents the data of her research (in collaboration with others) in a paper titled
    "Risk Factors and Carotid Artery Intima Media Thickness change over time in Children with Dyslipidemia"
    Neal Mangalat, Danna Zhang, Spencer Menees, Jie Chen UMKC, Geetha Raghuveer MD, MPH, Children's Mercy Hospital
    at the eleventh annual UMKC School of Medicine Student Research Day 2009. Congratulations, Danna! Her department faculty mentor is Jie Chen.



  • 12 March 2009: Our department participated in a visit to the UMKC campus by about 60 top 9th grade "Math Achiever" students from Hickman Mills High School. Faculty members Eric Hall and Richard Delaware spoke to them on Careers in Mathematics for 30 minutes each.



2008

  • 31 December 2008: We hear excellent news about three of our Master's degree Mathematics graduates this semester:
    • Sam Butler-Hunziker, MS graduate (Dec. 2008) with mathematics emphasis, has been hired full-time by Avila University for Spring 2009.

    • Carol Hanson, MS graduate (Dec. 2008) with mathematics emphasis, has been hired part-time by MCC Maple Woods Community College, Park University, and UMKC for Spring 2009.

    • Samantha Reynolds, MS graduate (Dec. 2008) with mathematics emphasis, has been employed full-time by Park Hill High School as a secondary school mathematics teacher since August 2008.

    Congratulations to them all!


  • 21 November 2008: In the Expository Talks Series,
    undergraduate mathematics student Dan Krulewich gives a first 30 minute talk,
    Dan Krulewich talk "A Continuous Function with Zero Derivative "Almost Everywhere" on [0, 1] that is Nevertheless
    Strictly Increasing There!.    ",
    [See picture at left.]

    and undergraduate mathematics student James Slaughter gives a second 25 minute talk,

    James Slaughter talk "Using Combinatorial Games (like Dominoes) to Prove
    1/2 + 1/2 = 1.
    [See picture at right.]
    For Dan the talk was an assignment for Math 402 (Advanced Analysis I) taught by Richard Delaware, and for James the talk was an assignment for Math 490 (Numbers and Games) an independent study course taught by Eric Hall.


  • Emporia State Univ. students 21 November 2008: We hosted a visit from about 13 students and 5 faculty members of the Emporia State University Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, & Economics, who drove up to see our two student talks in our Expository Talks Series, eat dinner at the Blue Grotto, and lastly see a comedy show in the area. We were also visited by several students and 2 faculty members from the Department of Mathematics and Physics at Rockhurst University. From our department, Richard Delaware joined the group for dinner.
    [See picture at right.]


  • 28 July 2008 - 30 July 2008: Over these three days, the first IUE (Institute for Urban Education) Summer College Immersion was held on campus for approximately 13 upcoming IUE students starting as Freshmen this Fall. We offered 3 mathematics lectures for the students, concentrating on mathematics note-taking skills, homework writing, making test outlines, and general mathematics course survival tips. These lessons were jointly given by GTA Samantha Reynolds, Adjunct Lecturer Breanne Volkerding, and Richard Delaware.


  • 26 July 2008: On Saturday July 26 from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm, we held our second summer GTA Teaching Workshop, organized by the chair of the GTA Supervisory Committee, Liana Sega, and Richard Delaware. In addition to distributing general and specific information about department policies and the courses they will teach, and just getting to know them, we had each participating GTA give a 15 minute lecture, which was then criticized by both Dr. Sega and Dr. Delaware, as well as the other GTAs present. We also shared pizza, and generally discussed various teaching issues.


  • 14 July 2008 - 18 July 2008: Over this week the first Southwest ECC (Southwest Early College Campus) Summer Scholars Academy was held on campus for approximately 90 upcoming 9th graders starting at Southwest ECC this Fall. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we offered a total of 9 sample mathematics lectures for the students, given by Adjunct Lecturers Ari Bavel and Breanne Volkerding, GTA Samantha Reynolds, and 2005 MS graduate (and new 9th grade mathematics teacher at Southwest ECC) Joe Morse, and organized by Richard Delaware. Southwest ECC is an open enrollment, mathematics and science focused school for students in grades 6-12 in the Kansas City Missouri School District (KCMSD) to open in Fall 2008, formed as a partnership between the District, UMKC, Kansas City's Partnership for Regional Educational Preparation (PREP-KC), the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute (KCALSI), and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (WWF). Also see our department Southwest ECC Mathematics page.



  • 25 June 2008: We hear the good news that Mathematics major Jace Ferguson has won the Advanced Level Essay prize in the UMKC Ilus W. Davis Writing Competition, and his expository paper
    "Early Binary: History and Application"
    will be published in the UMKC Fall 2008 Sosland Journal. The paper was written during Spring 2008 for Math 464 WI (History of Mathematics, Writing Intensive) taught by Richard Delaware.



  • 25 April 2008: In the Expository Talks Series,
    undergraduate mathematics major Tracey Davidson gives a first 20 minute talk,
    "Abraham De Moivre's 1718 Proof of a Gambler's Ruin Problem",
    Tracey Davidson talk

    and undergraduate mathematics major Vivian Bozikis gives a second 20 minute talk,
    "Leonhard Euler's 1734 and 1743 Proofs that
    [The 1/k2 Series] = pi2/6.
    Vivian Bozikis talk

    For Tracey and Vivian the talk was an assignment for Math 464 WI (History of Mathematics, Writing Intensive) taught by Richard Delaware. [For more pictures, see All Pictures.]



  • 25 April 2008: Statistics graduate student Danna Zhang presents the data of her research (in collaboration with others) over two areas titled
    "Variations in Carotid Artery Intima-media Thickness during the Cardiac Cycle"
    Spencer Menees, Joseph Le, David McCrary MD, Danna Zhang MS, Jie Chen PhD, Geetha Raghuveer MD, MPH, and
    "Vascular Age of Children of Hypercholesterolemia"
    Joseph Le, Spencer Menees, David McCrary MD, Danna Zhang MS, Jie Chen PhD, Geetha Raghuveer MD, MPH,
    at the tenth annual UMKC School of Medicine Student Research Day 2008. Congratulations, Danna! Her department faculty mentor is Jie Chen.



  • 22 April 2008: Today our M.S. in Mathematics GTA Samantha Reynolds was awarded a 2007-2008 Graduate Teaching Assistant Superior Teaching Award at the School of Graduate Studies 18th Annual Awards Convocation. Hers is one of just five such awards given in the College of Arts and Sciences. Congratulations, Samantha! [Previously, on 4 May 2006, our then GTA Breanne Volkerding won the same award.]
    [See pictures below, and also All Pictures.]

    GTA Award Samantha Reynolds 1 GTA Award Samantha Reynolds 2



  • 11 April 2008: Undergraduate major Whitney Berard presents a poster titled
    "Graphs Based on Vector Spaces over Finite Fields"
    at the eighth annual SEARCH Symposium for Research and Creative Achievements in Pierson auditorium, winning First Prize in the "Physical Sciences and Mathematics" Division. Congratulations, Whitney! Her faculty mentor is Liana Sega. [This award was also mentioned in a U-News article, April 28 issue, p.5, "UMKC Undergrads Show Off Research".]
    [See pictures below, and also All Pictures.]

    Whitney Berard SEARCH 1 Whitney Berard SEARCH 2



  • 10 April 2008: We hear the good news that undergraduate mathematics major Tracey Davidson is a finalist for the fifth annual HOMSIGMAA (History of Mathematics Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America) contest for papers written in History of Mathematics courses across the country. Congratulations, Tracey! In 2006, three of our department majors were finalists, and one won first place. We also won (or co-won) first place in both 2005 and 2004. Tracey's paper is titled
    "Nicole Oresme: The Kinematics of Celestial Motion."
    Her paper was written this Spring 2008 for Math 464 WI (History of Mathematics, Writing Intensive) taught by Richard Delaware.


  • Whitney Berard 17 March 2008: We learn that undergraduate major Whitney Berard [See picture at right.] is awarded a SEARCH grant to do undergraduate research with our own Liana Sega.


  • 12 March 2008: Several department Faculty, Adjunct Lecturers, graduate and undergraduate students, organized by our department HSCP Coordinator Becky Roberts, participated as problem writers, moderators, judges, computer operators, and runners in the UMKC Math and Science Competition for high school students and teachers, sponsored by the UMKC High School/College (HSCP) Partnership. Faculty members Mark Gamalo, Eric Hall, Liana Sega, Richard Delaware, and Xin Yan, along with Adjunct Lecturers Ari Bavel, John Swartz, and Breanne Volkerding, graduate student Zhiyong An, as well as undergraduate students Vivian Bozikis, Cameron Buie, Nicholas Cale, Adam Ross, Evan Stone, and Mitch Terry represented our department.



2007

  • Raulee Lucero 14 December 2007: Undergraduate mathematics major Raulee Lucero graduates with the distinction of Departmental Honors. Congratulations, Raulee! [See picture at right.]

  • 30 November 2007: In the Expository Talks Series,
    undergraduate mathematics major Yawo Ekpoh gives a first 20 minute talk,
    Yawo Ekpoh talk "Koksma's 1949 Proof that: er is irrational for all nonzero rational exponents r. [Plus! Sondow's new 2006 geometric proof that e is irrational.]",
    [See picture at left.]


    then undergraduate mathematics major Jamie Spenard gives a second 20 minute talk,

    Jamie Spenard talk "Courant's 1941 Pancake Theorem Proof: Two bounded, open, connected plane sets can be cut by a single line that divides each set in half by area".
    [See picture at right.]


    and finally undergraduate mathematics major Tom Scott gives a third 20 minute talk,

    Tom Scott talk "A Proof of Lebesgue's 1903 Criterion: A function f: [a, b] to R is Riemann-integrable if and only if f is bounded and the set of points of [a, b] at which f is not continuous has measure zero".
    [See picture at left.]
    For Yawo, Jamie, and Tom the talk was an assignment for Math 402 (Advanced Analysis I) taught by Richard Delaware.




  • 20 November 2007: We receive the 2006-2007 Academic Year Senior Survey Results for our Department of Mathematics and Statistics. This survey is taken by students after their Major Field exam during the semester they plan to graduate. Below is a sample of the responses from our graduating undergraduate majors.

    • Have applied to or will attend Graduate or Professional school:
      43% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      30% College of Arts & Sciences
      26% UMKC Overall

    • "Satisfied/Very Satisfied" with UMKC Preparation for Graduate School
      57% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      52% College of Arts & Sciences
      53% UMKC Overall

    • "Very Satisfied" with Overall Experience within our department:
      67% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      34% College of Arts & Sciences
      34% UMKC Overall

    • "Definitely Yes" that if they had it to do over again, they would Select the same Degree Program:
      50% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      41% College of Arts & Sciences
      43% UMKC Overall

    • "Much Stronger" Problem Solving Ability:
      57% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      30% College of Arts & Sciences
      30% UMKC Overall

    • "Much Stronger" Ability to Write Clearly:
      86% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      42% College of Arts & Sciences
      43% UMKC Overall


  • 16 November 2007: In the Expository Talks Series,
    undergraduate mathematics major Whitney Berard gives a first 20 minute talk,
    Whitney Berard talk "Benko's New 2007 Proof that: A given axb rectangle R can be decomposed into finitely-many rectangles which can be translated to compose another given parallel cxd rectangle R' if and only if area(R) = area(R') and a/c is rational.",
    [See picture at left.]


    and undergraduate mathematics major Brian Johnson gives a second 20 minute talk,

    Brian Johnson talk "Saari's 1981 Proof that:
    In any election with n > 3 candidates, given j < n voting vectors W1, ..., Wj (procedures which assign points to each candidate according to the voter's ranking), there exist voter profiles (choices of how the set of voters rank the candidates) so that when the voters vote for j of the candidates using voting vector Wj, then the jth candidate wins."
    [See picture at right.]
    For Whitney and Brian the talk was an assignment for Math 402 (Advanced Analysis I) taught by Richard Delaware.


  • Emporia State Univ. students & faculty 2 November 2007: We hosted a visit from about 8 students and 3 faculty members of the Emporia State University Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, & Economics, who drove up to see Nicholas Baeth, University of Central Missouri, speak on "Merlin: The Magic of Matrices" in our Expository Talks Series, eat dinner at Genghis Khan's Mongolian BBQ, and lastly see a comedy show in the area. We were also visited by several students and 2 faculty members from the Department of Mathematics and Physics at William Jewell College. From our department, Liana Sega, Eric Hall, and Richard Delaware joined the group for dinner.
    [See picture at right.]


  • Carol Hanson 19 September 2007: Graduate Teaching Assistant Carol Hanson is recognized at the Student Affairs Convocation as a graduate Student Award Winner, an award for "students who have persevered through difficulty while pursuing their academic goals". Her photo will be displayed on Sept. 20 at the Celebrate UMKC Convocation, and her award will be announced on the Celebrate UMKC web site. Congratulations, Carol!


  • 14 September 2007: We visit Pembroke Hill Upper School at the invitation of the Chair of their mathematics department, Ron Beeler, and 10 of his gifted and talented students, to discuss "What is Mathematics" as well as questions of the mathematics needed in college and further careers. Faculty members Eric Hall, Mark Gamalo, and Richard Delaware represented the department.


  • 30 July 2007: On Monday July 30 from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm, we held our first GTA Teaching Workshop, organized by one of the GTA Supervisors, Dr. Liana Sega. This event replaced the annual Orientation gathering held the last three summers (2004-2006) for all Adjunct Lecturers and Graduate Teaching Assistants teaching in the department during the Fall. In addition to distributing general and specific information about department policies and the courses they will teach, and just getting to know them, we had each participating GTA give a 25 minute lecture, which was then criticized by both Dr. Sega and Dr. Richard Delaware, as well as the other GTAs present. We also shared pizza, and generally discussed various teaching issues.


  • David Jackson 5 May 2007: Undergraduate mathematics major David Jackson graduates with the distinction of Departmental Honors. Congratulations, David!




  • 19 April 2007: At the first University of Saint Mary Science and Math Undergraduate Research Forum in Leavenworth, Kansas, faculty member Liana Sega gave an invited talk on Careers in Mathematics [one of 5 speakers, the other four being from Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Hill's Pet Nutrition (a Principal Scientist), the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kansas, and the Environmental Protection Agency], and Richard Delaware acted as a judge for the student poster session. We also distributed information about our department to all those potential students, and invited the mathematics majors for a future visit.


  • 13 April 2007: In the Expository Talks Series,
    undergraduate mathematics major Tera Smith gives a 20 minute talk,
    Tera Smith talk "A Proof of the 'Law of Quadratic Reciprocity'
    First proved by Gauss in 1801    ",
    [See picture at left.]


    and undergraduate mathematics major Dan Brigham gives a second 20 minute talk,

    Dan Brigham talk "At Most 4 Colors are Needed to Color any Plane Map:
    Kempe's Incorrect 1879 'Proof'
    and the Error Found by Heawood 10 Years Later!".
    [See picture at right.]
    For Tera, the talk was an assignment for Math 410 (Modern Algebra) taught by Eric Hall, and for Dan, the talk was an assignment for Math 414 (Mathematics for Secondary Teachers: Algebra & Analysis) taught by Richard Delaware.


  • 12 April 2007: We hear excellent news about two of our current graduate students and two of our recent Master's degree graduates:
    • Li Deng, MS graduate (Dec. 2006) with statistics emphasis, has been employed by PRA International in Overland Park, KS since February 2007.

    • Yue Zhu, MS graduate (Dec. 2006) with statistics emphasis, has been employed as a Statistical Analyst intern by T-mobile in Seattle, WA since March 2007.

    • Nicole Wright, MS graduate student (graduating May 2007), and our first department Graduate Student Representative has accepted a position from Lockheed-Martin in Denver, CO.

    • Steve Shattuck, Interdisciplinary PhD graduate student, with coordinating discipline Mathematics (with Statistics emphasis) and co-discipline Education, has been awarded the Chancellor's Doctoral Fellowship for 2007-2008, following the completion of his Preparing Future Faculty Fellowship of 2004-2007. Dr. Chen is his IPhD advisor.
    Congratulations to them all!


  • 16 March 2007: We hear the good news that the new Honors Undergraduate Journal Lucerna has accepted for publication in the Fall 2007 Volume 2, an expository mathematics paper written by Mathematics major Sam Butler-Hunziker titled
    "George Berkeley's Mathematical Philosophy and The Calculus",
    and another expository mathematics paper written by Mathematics major Lisa Erickson, titled
    "Polygonal Numbers".
    Congratulations Sam and Lisa! The two papers were written during Winter 2006 for Math 464 WI (History of Mathematics, Writing Intensive) taught by Richard Delaware.


  • 6 March 2007: Several department faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students participated as moderators, judges, and computer operators in the UMKC Math and Science Competition for high school students and teachers, organized by the UMKC High School/College (HSCP) Partnership. Faculty members Mark Gamalo, Eric Hall, Liana Sega, and Richard Delaware, along with Adjunct Lecturers Gerry Baygents and Madhur Mathur, as well as GTAs Chris Moore, Brian Cicutti, and Nikki Wright, and undergraduate students Tera Smith and Dan Brigham represented our department. During the awards ceremony, our Chair Dr. Kamel Rekab announced the winners of the prizes for Mathematics and Statistics.


  • 6 February 2007: We host a visit organized by the UMKC Welcome Center of 30 top 8th grade mathematics students from Northwest Middle School in Kansas City, Kansas. Faculty members Eric Hall, Liana Sega, and Richard Delaware offered them a 45 minute mathematics presentation, assisted by Graduate Teaching Assistant Samantha Reynolds, and an undergraduate student. Afterward, the visiting students observed a Calculus I class in action, taught by our own Master's degree graduate and current Adjunct Lecturer Breanne Volkerding.

    [Left: Eric Hall & Richard Delaware]

    8th grade visit 1 8th grade visit 2


  • 23 January 2007: Our department is favorably mentioned in the University News student newspaper page 3 article "Writing, math centers well used" as follows:
    "Because the Math Resource Center has a successful working relationship with the math department, it is very well advertised. All students taking math courses receive flyers about it during classes, and professors regularly refer those who need help."
    The article also notes that the Math Resource Center "...serves about 3,000 students each year."



2006

  • 1 December 2006: In the Expository Talks Series,
    undergraduate mathematics major Sam Butler-Hunziker gives a 30 minute talk,
    Sam Butler-Hunziker talk "A Proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra [every real or complex polynomial of degree n > 1 has at least one real or complex root] using D'Alembert's Lemma of 1746",
    [See picture at left.]


    and undergraduate mathematics (and secondary education) major Tony Botello gives a second 30 minute talk,


    Tony Botello talk "A 1995 Proof and Algorithm for a
    4 Person Envy-Free Cake-cutting Protocol
    [where each person believes his or her piece
    is not less than anyone else's    ]    ".
    [See picture at right.]
    For Sam, the talk was an assignment for Math 407 (Introduction to Complex Variables), and for Tony, the talk was an assignment for Math 402 (Advanced Analysis I) both taught by Richard Delaware.




  • 17 November 2006: In the Expository Talks Series, 4:00-4:50 pm,
    undergraduate mathematics (and secondary education) major Lindsey Ramsey gives a 20 minute talk,
    Lindsay Ramsey talk
    "Weierstrass' Proof that his 1872 'Pathological Function' is
    Everywhere Continuous but Nowhere Differentiable!    ",
    [See picture at left.]


    and undergraduate mathematics (and secondary education) major Bill Gessley gives a second 20 minute talk,

    Bill Gessley talk "A Proof of Euler's 1750 Formula for Polyhedra
    V - E + F = 2 [Vertices - Edges + Faces = 2], and
    its Application to Pick's Theorem of 1899    ".
    [See picture at right.]
    For Lindsey, the talk was an assignment for Math 402 (Advanced Analysis I), and for Bill, the talk was an assignment for Math 424 (Mathematics for Secondary Teachers: Geometry) both taught by Richard Delaware.




  • 17 November 2006: Emporia State Univ. students & faculty We hosted a visit from 15 faculty members and students of the Emporia State University Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, who drove up to see UMKC mathematics students Lindsey Ramsey speak on
    "Weierstrass' Proof that his 1872 'Pathological Function' is Everywhere Continuous but Nowhere Differentiable!",
    and Bill Gessley speak on
    "A Proof of Euler's 1750 Formula for Polyhedra V - E + F = 2 [Vertices - Edges + Faces = 2], and its Application to Pick's Theorem of 1899"
    in our Expository Talks Series, eat dinner at Baja 600 on the Plaza, and lastly see a movie in the area. From our department, Liana Sega, Eric Hall, and Richard Delaware joined the group for dinner.
    [See picture at right.]


  • 10 November 2006: For the first time, from 1:00-3:00 pm, we sponsor a Graduate Student Luncheon for all UMKC graduate students in mathematics or statistics. This is an opportunity for our faculty to know not only our Graduate Teaching Assistants, but all our graduate students so we can continue to mentor or advise them as needed.


  • 27 September 2006: We participate with a "poster" in the First Student Success Poster Session in the University Center as part of Celebrate UMKC week. Our "poster" showcased our department's many ways of supporting students across UMKC.

    Student Success Poster 1[Left: Liana Sega & Samantha Reynolds]
    [Right: Eric Hall & Samantha Reynolds] Student Success Poster 2


  • 14 September 2006: ATTENTION! Mathematics Majors & possible Majors!
    The first Fall 2006 gathering of our MAA (Mathematical Association of America) Student Chapter will be on:
    Friday September 22
    3:00-3:50 pm
    Royall Hall Room 205
    with Pizza and Soft Drinks!
     [For more information about the MAA Student Chapter, contact Dr. Liana Sega.]
    Followed by
    4:00-4:50 pm
    Haag Hall Room 309
    Expository Mathematics Talk
    Dr. Tristan Londre of MCC Blue River Community College
    [Tristan had Dr. Rhee as his PhD Advisor here.]
    Title: "Clifford Algebras and Spacetime:
    A Way to Multiply Vectors that has Useful Applications    "
    See Expository Talks for other talks this semester.


  • 13 July 2006: We receive the 2005-2006 Academic Year Senior Survey Results for our Department of Mathematics and Statistics. This survey is taken by students after their Major Field exam during the semester they plan to graduate. Below is a sample of the responses from our 10 graduating undergraduate majors. Our department is doing well!

    • Have applied to or will attend Graduate or Professional school:
      60% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      47% College of Arts & Sciences
      39% UMKC Overall

    • "Satisfied/Very Satisfied" with UMKC Preparation for Graduate School
      70% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      55% College of Arts & Sciences
      52% UMKC Overall

    • "Satisfied/Very Satisfied" with Academic Advising Services within our department:
      90% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      78% College of Arts & Sciences
      79% UMKC Overall

    • "Very Satisfied" with Overall Experience within our department:
      60% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      35% College of Arts & Sciences
      35% UMKC Overall

    • "Definitely Yes" that if they had it to do over again, they would Select the same Degree Program:
      50% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      40% College of Arts & Sciences
      46% UMKC Overall

    • "Much Stronger" Problem Solving Ability:
      50% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      25% College of Arts & Sciences
      29% UMKC Overall

    • "Much Stronger" Ability to Write Clearly:
      40% Mathematics & Statistics majors
      31% College of Arts & Sciences
      27% UMKC Overall


  • Samantha Reynolds 24 May 2006: We hear the good news that undergraduate mathematics major (and UMKC 2006 B.S. graduate) Samantha Reynolds has won one of two 1st place awards in the third annual HOMSIGMAA (History of Mathematics Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America) contest for papers written in History of Mathematics courses across the country. In fact, three UMKC Department of Mathematics and Statistics students were finalists this year: Samantha, Sam Butler-Hunziker, and Lisa Erickson (also a UMKC 2006 B.S. graduate) [Last year on 9 May 2005, we heard that undergraduate mathematics major Newlyn Walkup won 1st place in the second annual contest. Newlyn's paper was then published in the MAA's online History of Mathematics magazine Convergence: Where Mathematics, History and Teaching Interact. The previous year on 24 April 2004, we heard that undergraduate mathematics major Heath Yates shared 1st place in the first such annual contest.] Samantha's paper is titled
    "Maria Gaetana Agnesi: Female Mathematician and Brilliant Expositor of the Eighteenth Century."
    She will receive a certificate from the MAA, a free MAA student membership for next year, and $25 worth of books from the MAA online bookstore. Her paper will also be published on the HOMSIGMAA website. Congratulations, Samantha! Her paper was written during Winter 2005, while the other two finalist papers were written during Winter 2006, all for Math 464 WI (History of Mathematics, Writing Intensive) taught by Richard Delaware.


  • Breanne Volkerding 4 May 2006: Our 2006 M.S. in Mathematics graduate Breanne Volkerding is awarded a 2005-2006 Graduate Teaching Assistant Superior Teaching Award at the School of Graduate Studies 17th Annual Awards Convocation. Hers was one of just three such awards given in the School of Arts and Sciences. Congratulations, Breanne!


  • 7 March 2006: Several department faculty, staff, and graduate students participated as moderators and judges in the UMKC Math and Science Competition for high school students and teachers, organized by the UMKC High School/College (HSCP) Partnership. Faculty members Eric Hall, Liana Sega, and Richard Delaware, along with GTAs Breanne Volkerding and Nikki Wright, and Administrative Assistant Tanya Henderson represented our department.


  • 15 February 2006: From Pembroke Hill Upper School, we hosted on a visit the Chair of their mathematics department, Ron Beeler, and 7 of his gifted and talented students, who drove over to discuss with us questions of mathematics in college and further careers. Faculty members Eric Hall, Liana Sega, and Richard Delaware represented the department for this pleasant meeting.


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